strength nor power to bite or hurt, than a dead dog, or a poor flea hath. So Psalm xxii. 6."But I am a worm and no man." Now what is weaker, less regarded, or more despicable? what more trampled under-foot, than a worm? The Hebrew word talognath that is here rendered worm, signifies a very little worm, such as breed in silk, which are so little that a man can scarcely see or perceive them. Thus you see that holy

David debaseth himself below a worm, yea, below the least of worms. No man sets so low a value upon himself as he doth, who hath most private communion with God. The four and twenty elders cast down their crowns at the feet of Jesus Christ, Rev. iv. 10, 11. Their Crowns denote all their inward and outward dignities, excellencies and glories; and the casting down of their crowns denotes their great humility and self-debasement. When christians in their closets can cast down their crowns, their duties, their services, their graces, their enlargements, their enjoyments &c. at the feet of Jesus Christ, and sit down debasing and lessening of themselves, then certainly they have had very near and sweet communion with God.

Chrysostome hath a remarkable saying of humility Suppose, (saith he) "that a man were defiled with all enormity, yet humble, and another man enrich'd with gifts, graces, and duties, yet proud, the humble were in a safer condition than this proud one."

When a man can come off from closet duties, and say as Ignatius once said of himself, Nonsum dignus diei minimus, I am not worthy to be called the least, then certainly he hath had fellowship with God in them All the communion that the creature hath with God in

S

his closet is very soul-abasing. In all a man's communion with God, some rays of the glory and majesty of God will shine forth upon his soul. Now all divine manifestations are very humbling and abasing, as you may clearly see in those two great instances of Job and Isaiah, Job xlii. 5, 6. “I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee : Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes. Isa. vi. 1, 5. "I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple: then said I, woe is me, for I am undone ; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips, for mine eyes have -seen the King, the Lord of Hosts." What sweet com- munion Elias had with God in the cave!

There was a Lady who being much troubled in mind, and deserted of God, could not be drawn by -husband or any christian friends to hear or read any thing that might be for her spiritual advantage; at last, her husband by much importunity prevailed so far as to read one chapter in the Bible to her; so he read Isa. lvii. and when he came to the fifteenth verse "for thus saith the high and lofty one that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is holy, I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones." O says she, is it so, that God dwells with a contrite and humble spirit, then I am sure he dwells with me, for my heart is broken into a thousand pieces O happy text and happy time, that ever I should hear such comfort! and she was thereupon recovered.

The more communion any man hath with God, the more humble and broken his heart will be.

would many times John the hypocrite, Agur was one of the

Holy Bradford was a man that had much private communion with God, and he subscribe himself in his letters and a very painted sepulcre.' wisest and holiest men on the earth in his days, and he condemned himself for being more brutish than any man, and not having the understanding of a man. How sweet is the smell of the lowly violet that hides his head, above all the gaudy tulips that are in your garden! The lowly christian is the most amiable and lovely. When a man can come out of his closet, and cry out with Augustine, "I hate that which I am, and love and desire that which I am not: Owretched man that I am, in whom the Cross of Christ hath not yet eaten out the poisonous and bitter taste of the first tree." Or, as another saith, "Lord, I see, and yet I am blind : I will, and yet rebel, I hate, and yet I love, I follow, and yet I fall; I press forward, yet I faint; I wrestle, yet I halt," then he may be confident that he hath had communion with God in his Closet. He that comes off from closet-duties in a self debasing way, and in laying of himself at the feet of God, he certainly hath had communion with him ; but when men come out of their closets with hearts swelled and lifted up, as the heart of the pharisees were, 'tis evident that they have had no communion with: him: God hath not been near their souls, who say, stand by thyself, come not near me, for I am holier than thou. Isa. lxv, 5. But,

8. and lastly, When a man finds such a secret virtue

and power running through his closet-duties, as wound and weakens his beloved corruption, as breaks the strength and power of of his special sin, and sets hiv heart more fully against his darling lust, then certainly he hath had communion with God, Isa. ii. 20. "In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they have made, each one for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats."

Though closet duties are weak in themselves, yet when a man hath communion with God in them, then they prove exceeding powerful to the casting down of strong holds, vain imaginations, and every high thing and thought that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God."

When Moses had enjoyed forty days private communion with God in the mount, how did his heart rise, and his anger wax hot against the molten calf that his people had made! Exod. xxxii. 19, 20. “And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf and dancing, and Moses' anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount: and he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and strewed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it." Moses had never more intimate fellowship with God than now, and he never discovered so much holy zeal, anger and indignation against sin as now. When a man comes off from the mount of closet duties with a greater hatred, anger, wrath, and indignation against bosom or darling sins, that were once as dear to him as his right hand or right eye, or as Dalilah was to

Sampson, or Herodias was to Herod, Isaac to Abraham, or Joseph to Jacob, then certainly held communion with God in those duties.

Two

9. In all your closet duties, see that the glory of God be your ultimate end, the mark that you have in your eye. There is great truth in that old saying, • That duties are esteemed not by their acts, but by their ends. As the shining sun puts out the fire, so the glory of God must consume all other ends. things make a good christian, good actions, and good aims. And though a good aim doth not make a bad action good, as in Uzzah, yet a bad aim makes a good action bad, as in Jehu, whose justice was approved, but his policy punished: God writes a nothing upon all those services, wherein men's ends are not right, Jer. xxxii. 23. "They obeyed not thy voice, neither walked in thy law, they have done nothing of all that thou hast commanded them to do." So Dan. ix. 13.

66

All this evil is come upon us, yet made we not our prayer before the Lord our God.” The Jews were very much in religious duties and services; witness Isa. i. 11-15. lviii. 1-3. Zech. vii. 5, 6. I might produce a hundred more witnesses to confirm it, were it necessary; but because they did not aim at the glory of God in what they did, therefore the Lord writes a nothing upon all their services. It was Ephraim's folly, that he brought forth fruit unto himself. And it was the Pharisees hypocrisy, that in all their duties and services they looked to the praises of men: "Verily, saith Christ, you have your reward;" a poor and pitiful reward indeed. Such men shall be sure to fall short of divine acceptance, and of a glorious re